A new advisory board is to make football clubs and KMD winners when it comes to using data

A new advisory board is to make football clubs and KMD winners when it comes to using data

Published: 03.08.2018

Today, football is big business, and the professional football clubs are increasingly taking advantage of big data in their hunt for success. During the last year or so, KMD, a Danish IT company, has worked intensely to improve performances in sports via the targeted use of data. Football is one of the big focus areas, and now KMD is upping its game through the creation of a new Advisory Board that is to help improve and develop football through via the better application of data. The first two members of this advisory board will be Mads Davidsen, Technical Director at Shanghai SIPG F.C and Kenneth Cortsen, PhD in Sports Management and guest lecturer at the University of San Francisco.

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The professional use of data to increase performance is becoming increasingly common in the world of sports. In football, the largest international clubs have been working with this area for a number of years. During the latest World Cup, several national teams made use of data experts, including the Danish team, which collaborated with KMD, an IT company.
Even though the use of data is not entirely new in football, it is still in its early stages and there are significant opportunities for improvement.

“The pace of technological development has exploded in recent years. As an elite football player today, it is just as natural to put on a GPS transmitter as it is to put on your shin pads and cleats. Football is teeming with data, and there is a growing need to be able to process and present that data in an intelligent value-creating manner. We want to contribute towards improving that aspect in Denmark among the football clubs,” says Frans Hammer, Chief Consultant at KMD.

International profiles are going to enhance the use of data in Denmark

In order to enhance the efforts on the area, KMD is now creating a new Advisory Board. The first two members of this advisory board will be Mads Davidsen, Technical Director at Shanghai SIPG F.C and Kenneth Cortsen, PhD in Sports Management and guest lecturer at the University of San Francisco.

“Ever since I joined in Shanghai, we’ve been focusing a lot on the process of moving from ‘believing’ to ‘knowing’. Among other things, during my time here we’ve used to data to analyze where to place our 55 talent academies in China. Therefore, I’m very pleased and proud to contribute some of my football knowledge towards further developing football. After all, I’ve been taking part in developing and maturing KMD’s football project for the past year, and I’ve seen the importance of having the skills and knowledge of working with data in an international club like ours,” Mads Davidsen says.

Kenneth Cortsen, a PhD in Sports Management and a guest lecturer at the University of San Francisco, has spent many years researching the correlation between performance on and outside the pitch and has seen that the Danish clubs could use data better.

“When I look at the United States, the trend is only increasing. Every team, across all sports, use massive resources on data. Not just on the game, but also to improve their product. We don’t see that in Europe, and certainly not in Denmark. Therefore, I have great hopes for a collaboration with KMD. We have the research knowledge, and KMD can provide all of the data work. The clubs need to get on board now if they don’t want to get left behind. The answers to many of the challenges that the Danish clubs are faced with on the commercial side of the business can be found in the better use of data. I’d love to support this work,” Kenneth Cortsen says.

Sports data will be a key area for KMD

For KMD, the creation of an Advisory Board will also be the next step towards developing the sports and data business area.

“Over the past year, KMD has tested various pilot projects on the pitch and found a model that creates a lot of value for both the club, coach and players. Now we’ll be accelerating the development of the business area by setting up an Advisory Board with some of the key persons who have supported us in this process. As data experts, we also need external input dealing with Best Practice, and the new Advisory Board can help with this. In the end, it should help to improve our contributions and benefit the football clubs,” Frans Hammer says.

About KMD

KMD is Denmark’s largest IT company and it develops and supplies software and service solutions to municipalities, the state and businesses in Denmark and addition to certain select business segments in Scandinavia. KMD Business is a private sector oriented business unit in the KMD Group. KMD has over 1,500 Danish and international customers, including 800 Danish and international companies. The KMD Group has an annual turnover of approximately 5.6 billion Danish kroner and employs around 3,500 people. KMD is owned by Advent International and Sampension. Read more on www.kmd.dk

KMD is the Danish Football Association’s official data partner. The collaboration was kicked off in the run up to the World Cup, but it will continue after the finals and then focus on the coming European Cup qualifications and the Nations League tournament. The other national teams are also included in the data partnership between the Danish Football Association and KMD.